At some manufacturing plants it is necessary to pour precast concrete from large hoppers or concrete buckets. Typically the buckets include a large upper opening into which concrete is poured and a lower funnel-like exit section for emptying the concrete into an adjacent chute where it is directed to the desired location. The buckets are normally of rugged steel construction and are very heavy. Sturdy equipment is needed to lift and transport the bucket or hopper to the precise desired location at the production line. Some buckets or hoppers are provided with lifting members across the top thereof which are grasped by a hook on the end of a cable, and the cable is generally secured to a large crane which serves to lift the bucket or hopper to the desired elevation after the bucket has been transported to the construction site by trucks. Since the bucket is suspended by a cable extending downwardly from the lifting apparatus (crane), there is no rigid connection between the lifting apparatus and the very heavy bucket. Generally, on some such buckets, a large gate mechanism disposed at the bottom of the funnel of the bucket must be manually opened to discharge the concrete mixture through a chute which must be manually placed at the desired position.
Another type of hopper is provided with a pair of spaced lifting members at the bottom thereof into which a pair of lifting forks of a vehicle are inserted to lift the hopper for transportation to the desired location at the plant site where the concrete is dumped by using the block truck swinging boom. This unit will discharge straight forward only.
Still another type of concrete bucket support and dispensing apparatus is a very large wheeled vehicle (Tuckerbilt) which has the bucket rigidly mounted directly on the rotatable bed of the vehicle. A very long chute extends from the bucket and passes under the operator who sits in a raised cabin supported on the rotatable bed to control the positioning of the chute. The bucket will tilt but is not designed to be moved vertically. To lift the bucket vertically, it would be necessary for a heavy duty crane to lift the complete vehicle and bucket (approximately 12,500 pounds--empty).
None of the above mechanisms provide for the releasable rigid attachment of a concrete hopper to a vehicle while permitting the hopper to be vertically moved, tilted, and rotated on the vehicle to permit the concrete to be easily dumped at a precise desired location at a production site.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a concrete bucket assembly in which the bucket is releasably, rigidly, and rotatably attached to the lifting fork of a forklift truck.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a concrete bucket with a closure member and a trough which are operated by the hydraulic system of the forklift truck.